Or this...

Following the idea of the post below...

Instead of looking to the federal government to solve every problem, why not start at the smallest level of local government, and work up if that level cannot deal with the problem? It's called subsidiarity: letting the "nearest" level of community & government deal with the problems they can manage.

I believe we need a social safety net. But I see no reason why we can't begin that net at the local level.